It had to figure, right? Pitt decides not to do a spring game and the weather was absolutely perfect this past Saturday.
Well, from the talk and some reports the Field Pass event was a success. Pitt had more people than they expected sign up and attend the event. I think if they had announced the event at the same time they made the announcement not to have a spring game, the reaction might have been better. Including from me.
Seems, though, that Pitt is at the start of a trend. Or at the very least a debate on the merits of spring games. For programs that will pull in over 30,000 fans for a game, it’s a no-brainer. For other programs it becomes a trickier decision, much more about what the coach and the athletic department feel is needed.
At the end of spring practices, there was one surprise. The departure — without any real explanation — of Jahmahl Pardner. From the accounts, he is still enrolled at Pitt, but he has quit football. Pardner was injured as a freshman and was slow in his recovery. The obvious leap of logic would be that the injury is still an issue to the point where he doesn’t want to play.
From a football standpoint only, Pardner is not a huge loss simply because there is depth in the defensive backs. It’s one of the few positions where Pitt can take some attrition.
Now the Field Pass day was not the final practice. That was on Tuesday.
Spring practice ended Tuesday with a mixture of toughness and mirth.
Players wore the full complement of pads, and coaches conducted some hard-hitting scrimmage sessions.
There also was a light-hearted game of dodgeball, featuring quarterback Trey Anderson and cornerback Trenton Coles wrestling on the turf for the last ball, and the spectacle of offensive linemen catching punts.
“Seeing the fat guys run around is always fun,” senior safety Ray Vinopal said.
Fair guess to assume the offensive linemen were first out.
Now the football talk turns to speculation. Recruiting and what Pitt will do come the fall. For the players this is all about off-season conditioning.
This is where all the player enthusiasm for S&C Coach Ross Kolodziej has to translate into the effort they put into the conditioning. I remain completely skeptical of this hire, and really hope to be proven wrong.
For the record, despite my distaste for the Kolodziej hire, I do not ascribe any of the injuries suffered during camp. Or the lingering injuries to his work with the players as S&C Coach from January on. Injuries happen. Nothing appears atypical in the injuries. Only the occasional timing.
One player who will spend the summer rehabbing rather than conditioning is Isaac Bennett. That shoulder injury was a little more severe than first thought. He was scheduled to get surgery on it this week.
I would also like to apologize for my spotty work during spring practices. A big chunk of it has been the offline world. Some of it, though, has simply been that there really hasn’t been much in the way of news. Access to practices have been very limited for media and when I look at the free articles that have been available, there is very little about the actual practices and what is going on. This has resulted in much more fluff and less information. It becomes a question then, of what to post.
Despite the youth on the team, the depth chart already feels set, aside from cornerback and wide receiver. So there is only so much speculating on those spots.
In none of them does anyone report on how well or how poorly the QB’s are playing, throwing the ball, running the offense, etc.
Kind of strange since the QB position is the most important on the field.
If anyone has a story I missed, please link it.
It may be that there is no real hard news coming out of camp regarding the QB position because they haven’t been lighting up the field. There is a real reason that Trey Anderson has been getting so many reps and it isn’t just because he might play because of injury to Chad Voytik. There is a chance he may be called on anyway during the course of the season… as with any backup to an unproven QB.
Voytik looked fine during the bowl game and under tough circumstances too but there is a load of football for him to play as a starting QB this season and it won’t be against teams of Bowling Green’s lesser caliber.
In either case, good to have a healthy and well-practiced twosome at QB instead of just one guy getting 90% of the reps with the starters. I hope Chryst plays the best man after summer camp brakes and not just automatically go with Voytik since he was more highly recruited…make sure he earns it. Remember how highly recruited Bostick was…that didn’t turn out like we hoped.
I love Trey Anderson, kid gets lured here from Texas by a snake oil salesman, he leaves, Anderson stays even though he doesn’t fit a pro style offense at all. Not only does he stay, at times he almost seems like another coach on the sideline, never far from coach Chryst.
That being said, if the gap between Trey and Voytik is as close as some think, I think this team is in trouble. I was really hoping to read how Chad Voytik had seized the job this spring and had been lights out, all that good stuff. Never heard or read anything close to that, and that is alarming.
This is a huge year for this program. With some real returning talent, almost a legitimate 2 deep, and a manageable schedule 6-6 does not cut it. 5-7 or worse is essentially a disaster. This is year 3 of what I believe is a 4 year contract for Paul Chryst.
The time is now!!
Hail to Pitt!!!!!
Camp is the place to dial it in.
No worries at all about Voytik. He will be the starter.
link to sbnation.com
If nothing else, I would think working 4 years (he redshirted last year) under Chryst would look good on his resume if he wanted to pursue a coaching career.
At the end of the season, nobody was rating Savage as a draft choice let alone a high drfat choice. Then Gil Brandt realized how important post-season combines, Pro-days, etc were, and was the first to jump on the bandwagon … knowing full well the physical attributes he brings to the table. Heck, the guy throws best long out pass of any Pitt QB since Oakland Dan.
From not being drafted to being invited to attend the NFL Draft ceremony within a couple of months shows how important post-season activities are. For example, if mock drafts are to be believed … did you notice that in the same time periond where Savage rose, Ted Bridgewater fell from possibly the 1st draft pick to the 2nd round.
Donald and Savage going high in the draft can only help Pitt’s plight
Of course, I am making a large judgment on a guy who I have only seen play one half of a FB game, so maybe it’s more hope than anything else. Nonetheless, I am optimistic.
What is the deal with the Freshman QB coming in? Is he a good athlete or a statue in the pocket? Just curious what type PC recruited.
Anything less than 8-4 will be a disappointment.
I would say that he is kind of a cross between Savage and Voytik … he is big and has a good arm, but certainly no asrm strong as Savage’s. And he is athletic but not as mobile as Voytik.
Again, I have seen only a small sampling of Bertke and Voytik.
If you’ll recall I wasn’t real high on Savage either and he played better than I expected over the course of the season. I still think that PITT fans look at Savage and overestimate what he did for PITT based on the fact that we all were ready for anybody after Stull, Bostick and Sunseri.
The bottom line is that he lead the team to a 6-6 regular season record just like many have done before him. If you look at pure statistics both Stull and Sunseri pretty much bested him in every QB category back in ’13. Yes, Savage played better ALL AROUND and gave us that 4th quarter shot at a win and that was great to see.
However, I contend that a QB under Paul Chryst is really a ‘plug and play’ position because the emphasis with Chryst is always going to be the running game with good tough top shelf RBs and strong big OLs. None of his QBs at Wisconsin were gangbusters with the exception of Wilson who was 1) already an established QB with four years under his belt and 2) had a monster running game with Montee Ball (1923 yds & 33 TDs) and James White with 713 yards.
I do think that Voytik gives the running game a bit of a boost as we can now call plays that are designed for the QB to keep the ball and rush. That will be fun to see and I think Chryst will really concentrate on having the run set up a basic passing game especially in the first part of the season until we really see how Voytik can pass under stricter competition.
We may be going ‘back to the future’ and see our offense much like it was in 2009 with Lewis and Graham and those good OL we had.
On a more personal note I’ve missed bantering with you guys buy just hit the wall with PITT football and the message boards (and Facebook groups) at mid-season last year. It seemed like everyone was saying the same thing over and over and I stepped back a bit. Plus I just now got my son’s old party house fixed up enough to put on the market. I forgot what damned pigs 25 year old kids are.
I’ll try to check in every day and lend an opinion here and there and I’m about to drop an email request for training camp access again this July-August so maybe I’ll have something concrete to base those opinions on.
Thanks…
– Savage told him that he regretted leaving Rutgers, saying that he was immature and uncoachable, in retrospect
– Savage became a team leader at Pitt and was well respected by his teammates
– he thinks Savage has pro skills but doesn’t think he is ready to start at NFL level, but instead would profit if he is allowed to be a backup for a couple of years
We assumed you were busy with a covert CIA operation. Good to see you resurface. Looking forward to future postings in any way.
We’re a small, but close knit group…
As far as Savage now being invited to the draft, I would only hope this can help recruiting at this position. That would be a Super Bowl winning QB and a possible 2nd rd journeyman QB under Paulie’s belt.
Reed, i will say though, if James and Ollison are college ready, Isaac’s shoulder heals, and Ibraham takes advantage of being last RB standing, Conner to a thin DL may not be that crazy…
Wow this would be great for Pitt football, as PC has shown little inclination for recruiting top notch QB’s despite his apparently reputation for coaching them. So having a QB drafted should help, however Russell Wilson was drafted in the 1rst round and that hasn’t paid any dividends for PC. So who knows !
All I do know is I can’t understand why a top notch HS QB or two, didn’t want to play with such a phenomenal WR as Tyler Boyd. And this Adonis Jennings looks to be, perhaps a perfect compliment.
Which reflects on how Pitt’s program has become so insignificant across the nation.
We really need a breakout season this year, with at least 8 wins(in the regular season) and 9 or 10 would be better. And get to a legit bowl game and win that.
The schedule is setup in such a manner as that is doable.
HTP !
And you know what they say ! 🙂
Actually I don’t really know Pat Bostick, or Chad Voytik for that matter, (but I had to plagiarize the quote that still makes Dan Quail squirm to this day). However, if I had to bet on it, I’d be comparing Chad to another one of our alumni QBs, a gritty, hard nosed QB that became infamous to Pitt Nation when he dropped the “F” Bomb on national TV after we beat the Irish on their own turf, back in the day! That is the style of Voytik, perhaps with even more inherent natural talent to be tapped by Coach Chryst than Tyler Palko ever had.
As I’ve already postulated, this year’s football team will hinge on the performance and health of the QB starter being given the reins of the team by HCPC. I hope that Chad can remain healthy, because if he does, I have unflapable faith in his ability to perform adequately enough to win the 8 games (including the 13th bowl game) this season necessary to stamp Pitt’s 2014 season a success.
As I believe he missed 95% of August camp his freshman year, deciding whether he wanted to stay at Pitt.
Voytik on the other hand has been in the system for 2 full years of practice time before most likely becoming the starter.
That is a huge difference. And should benefit Chad and the team greatly.
Only comparison between the two that I see, is they were both highly rated QB’s coming out of HS.
Congrats on the weight loss. I know for sure how hard it is to do that as we all get older.
So what did you cut out of your diet ?
Coach Chryst has been forging a solid base to build on over the last couple of years. His style is the polar opposite of his predecessor. Chryst is all WORK and no HYPE. Under the radar totally. “Show what you got on the field” and all the other stuff, better left unsaid in Coache’s opinion. I don’t like that style myself, because I think that it has negatively impacted our overall national exposure during his short tenure and has retarded our recruiting efforts up to this point. But and it’s a big BUT, while Chryst has been busy doing it his way, all is fine if he is successful! And I feel that we are ready to see the first accurate impression of whether that effort will bear fruit or not THIS season.
This grand experiment is far from over but I agree with others that are becoming impatient waiting for the test results to come in. This season should be a good barometer of if the program is headed in the correct direction or not. Time will tell.
First visit to Pittsburgh by the Rambling Wreck of Georgia Tech since 1920 ! Can’t say I remember that one !
The FSU president left for Pedo State……right.
Never really worked out for him on the field because of the pre-college hype expectations we placed on him but he did more than a great many of all college QBs ever achieve in their careers.
Pap76 – that is a lot of “If this happens then …” way of thinking regarding our RB corps. Two true FR and a dinged up Bennett with a returning RB who had 27 total carries? I really like Ibrahim and have been touting him on here since his recruitment but to sit down a RB who not only gets 5.5 YPC and beats the living crap out of the defense while doing so is madness. Especially when that subject RB has almost zero college experience at DE.
If Ollison and James really do play as advertised and we get MAJOR production, like Lewis & Graham production, out of them then so be it but… but did anyone on here watch what Connor did when he wasn’t carrying the ball. Yes, he was still beating the living crap out of LBs with his blocking.
Keep him at RB!
If our OL is anything like we think it will be he can get 1500+ yards and many TDs this coming season. Look at how many carries Graham had over his last two seasons – 222 (4.7 ypc) in ’13 and 164 (5.8 ypc) in ’12. Our golden boy & irreplaceable Rushel Shell had 141 (4.5 ypc) last year also.
Compare that production with Connor’s 146 carries for 800 yards and 5.5 ypc last season AS A TRUE FR. Guys – 5.5 ypc isn’t something you take out of the offensive backfield unless you are under major duress (think Stull getting hurt and DW burning Bostick’s FR redshirt) elsewhere.
Something to think about with Chryst and QBs. They have all had very low INTs under his coaching. Even Savage’s nine INTs last season is very low for him. This is because Chryst called, and now has his OCs call, very conservative passing games. Don’t expect to see Voytik throw more TDs than our last two QBs did (21 each). If Voytik can get a high completion rate, throw for 15+ TDs and keep the INTs down he’ll be a success in 2014.
Then out of necessity it became conservative.
And I hope they don’t have to play it conservative this year, as that would partly negate our biggest offensive weapon, that of course being Tyler Boyd.
You still need to be able to stretch the field vertically, to open up the running game.
PC knows this as well.
And where do we meet to get those free beers Reed?
I’m always optimistic when it comes to Pitt Football, but this spring it took much less Pitt Koolaid than usual to teach that optimistic euphoria!
And I’m still intrigued by Boyd, as he gets stronger and more physically mature. He was sometimes virtually unstoppable last year, a bigger stronger version of him will be something to behold, as he is one guy we have who can change the game in heartbeat as he did with the punt return and the winning long TD catch in the Bowl Game.
Can you say Heisman Trophy candidate !
See UPittt’s favorite baseball stadium live and in living color.
Like Boyd in the slot a lot, anything that can get him more touches, besides he can get his yards after the catch. Jones should be able to stretch the D. Plus isn’t one of the underclassmen a track star? In any case, I see Voytik with more skills for the short passing game, like Joe Montana.
Justinian, I have lost thirty lbs. since the New Year. Decided, I am going to try to live long enough to see Pitt win a championship, hopefully in both sports.
This is why we would have great chances with 2016 QB’s and maybe a Shurmur this year. Reed, it may be cheaper to just purchase a keg instead of buying us all a bunch of cold beer.
Might I suggest the First Annual Blatherite shindig in July? That would be cool because I would like to meet you guys. Hell, I mock most of you at some point on here and would enjoy mocking you all face to face. LOL. Just saying…
dhuff – I’ll drive up for the shindig for sure.
Check it out on PittsburghPanthers.com
Shows what the kid is made of.